From the Streets to the Sea
by MildlyInsane
Summary: This is another Jimmy background story, telling of Jimmy's early life and how he ended up on the Venture and meeting Mr. Hayes, as well as the rest of the crew. It's in 3rd person Jimmy's point of viewish... Please read and review.
1. Chapter 1

**_Hello. This is another Jimmy-background story. I wrote sort of one before, but didn't ever say where Jimmy came from. This story tells of Jimmy's early life as well as when he met Mr. Hayes. Also, I thought it would be interesting to have this written more through Jimmy's eyes than through Mr. Hayes', since that's what my other one was. It's still 3rd person, but it follows Jimmy's thoughts and feelings more than anyone elses. I've got a few chapters already written, but I haven't completed the story yet. I will though, so don't worry about that. :) So read this chapter if you'd like, review it, and I'll post the next chapter shortly. I hope you like it._**

**_xxxxxx_**

**_Chapter1:_**

Jimmy had never known his father. His mother didn't really talk about him. She mentioned him a few times, but never in a way which would suggest he was a good man. Occasionally she would say something about him abandoning them or him being a coward, but most of the time she would try not to mention him at all. Judging by his mother's words and his lack of any memories of the man, Jimmy assumed his father had either left before he was born or while he was still too young to remember him.

So Jimmy spent the first six years of his life living in New York without a father. He and his young mother had only each other. His mother couldn't get a descent job, as she was young, inexperienced, and had quite a temper when someone tried to manipulate her. While his mother managed to keep a job for a while every now and then, she was not one to be taken advantage of, and would quit jobs frequently when one of her employers was too unfair towards her. Jimmy couldn't find a job either, though by the age of six he was already an expert in thievery. Oftentimes the two of them would have to survive only off whatever she and young Jimmy could manage to steal.

She had gotten pregnant when she was fourteen years old, and by the time Jimmy was born, she had just turned fifteen. Jimmy's father was likely young as well, and scared by the thought of having to raise a child, he fled either when he learned of the pregnancy or when he had enough of taking care of Jimmy after he had been born. Either way, now Jimmy and his mother lived without the assistance of a father for Jimmy. They were forced to fend for themselves in the cruel streets of New York.

Presently, Jimmy's mother was employed by a large man whom Jimmy called Rick. Jimmy didn't know exactly what his mother did, but he knew it was her job, and he knew Rick was her boss. She informed Jimmy that he was to respect Rick no matter what, because her job was important.

"I'm going to try to keep this job this time, Jimmy," she had told him, "we are both going to have to respect my boss, even if sometimes we don't want to. We'll have enough money this way. So even if he says something mean, don't get mad, okay?"

Jimmy nodded in agreement. His mother had been employed by some very vile men in the past. She had always eventually yelled at them and quit, telling Jimmy they would find a different way to earn money. Jimmy trusted his mother. She wasn't perfect, of course. Sometimes when she was under too much stress she would act grumpy and would even yell at him for the tiniest things, but would always apologize afterward. Jimmy understood she was having a hard time with her work and with life in general, so he always forgave her. He knew she loved him, and he trusted that she would find a way to earn money. If she wanted him to respect her new boss, he would do just that.

When Jimmy's mother had to work, she left Jimmy either at their residence, where they were living illegally with another family; a man, Paul and his two teen-aged daughters, Anna and Sarah or simply let him roam about in the city, always telling him to stay within a certain area. Whenever she could, she left Jimmy with Anna and Sarah or with their father, but the three of them were also trying to survive in the city and could not always look after Jimmy.

Today, Jimmy had gone with his mother to Rick's house. Jimmy didn't think it really looked like a house, but that's what his mother called it, so he didn't ask questions. Rick didn't seem to be a bad guy, so Jimmy sat on a chair at the 'house' while his mother talked to Rick. After a few minutes of talking, his mother walked up to another man who had been standing in the room. Together, Jimmy's mother and the man left. Jimmy sighed and looked down at his feet. His shoes were starting to get holes in them. He had come to Rick's house before while his mom worked, so he knew it would be a while before they could go back home. He looked up at Rick, who smiled back at him.

"Hey," Rick greeted him.

"Hi," Jimmy shyly responded.

"You wanna do me a favour, boy?" Rick asked, staying seated behind his desk.

"What kind of favour?" Jimmy asked. He knew he couldn't say no anyway, since his mother would surely be disappointed to find Jimmy had refused to cooperate with Rick.

"Could you take his bag and deliver it somewhere for me?" Rick asked, holding up a brown bag, "I'll pay you ten cents," the large man smiled down at Jimmy.

Jimmy stood up from his chair and walked over to the desk, "okay," he agreed, "what's inside the bag?" he curiously asked.

"Oh, nothing," Rick told him, "just some spices. Don't open the bag, understand?"

Rick's tone didn't seem so friendly anymore. Jimmy hoped he wasn't angry with him, "okay," Jimmy's small voice squeaked.

Rick smiled again, "it's alright," he said, "I'm not angry. The spices just lose their flavour if the bag is opened, because the air will get into the bag, you see?"

Jimmy nodded.

"Good," Rick began, "now, just take this down the street three blocks to the red building with a gate in front of it. You can reach through the bars and unlock it and then go up the steps and go ahead inside without knocking. Tell the man inside that Rick sent you. He'll give you a bag in return, and don't open it either. It's also spices and the air will make them lose their flavour too. You get it? Take him the bag, get the other bag and come back here. Don't open either bag, and go straight there and back. No side trips."

"Okay," Jimmy agreed, taking the brown bag from Rick.

"Be quick about it," Rick said.

Jimmy nodded and made his way out the door. He carried the bag three blocks, just as Rick had instructed. He wondered why Rick was trading so many spices with someone. He didn't know a lot about cooking, but he thought spices were something you didn't use very much of when cooking. He had no idea why someone would need such a big bag of spices.

He walked down the sidewalk until he saw a brick building with a black iron gate in front of it. He hoped it was the right building. He didn't see any other buildings with gates nearby, so he assumed this was the correct one.

Jimmy reached his small hand through the bars and unlocked the latch holding the gate closed. He pushed the gate open and walked up the stairs to the door. He paused for a moment and then knocked on the door. After a moment, no one had answered the door. Then he remembered Rick had told him _not_ to knock. He hoped no one would have noticed. He didn't see what harm knocking on the door could do, but he hoped no one would be angry about it for some reason. He opened the door and walked inside the room where a few men were sitting in chairs, smoking cigars.

"Hi," Jimmy's small voice interrupted their conversation, "um... Rick... Rick sent me to give this to you."

"Ah, good," one of the men said, standing and walking toward Jimmy. Jimmy fought the urge to back away. He didn't like the look of these men. The man took the bag from Jimmy and walked over to a table, setting the bag down and then opening it and looking inside at its contents.

"He said not to open it," Jimmy informed him. The man turned toward Jimmy, frowning, "Um... Rick said not to get air in the bag... but you can do whatever you want... I... he just said... He told me not to open it..."

The man laughed and picked up a different bag which had been sitting on the table. He walked over to Jimmy and ruffled his hair, "Take this one back to Rick," he said, chuckling slightly, "and don't open it either."

Jimmy nodded and exited the building, holding the bag close to his chest. He closed the gate behind him, re-locking it and then began his walk back to Rick's house.

The man in the red building had opened the bag, and didn't really seem to care when Jimmy told him what Rick had said. Maybe it didn't really matter if he opened this one too. Rick probably just didn't want Jimmy messing with the spices in the bags. Jimmy wanted to see them though. He wondered what kinds they were. He decided he would just look. He wouldn't touch any of them. He would just look and then close the bag back up, and Rick would never know. Jimmy was almost back to Rick's house by now. He knelt down on the sidewalk and opened the bag, peering inside.

To Jimmy's surprise, the bag didn't contain spices at all, but rather money, and quite a lot of it. Jimmy had been taught by his mother to steal, and just some of this money would sure be useful to them. Perhaps he could just take a few of the bills. Rick wouldn't notice just a few missing. Then everyone would be happy.

Jimmy reached his hand into the bag, but gasped as he felt someone roughly grab his arm and jerk him to his feet. Rick grabbed his wrist and squeezed. Jimmy let go of the bag, but Rick didn't let go of his wrist.

"What did I tell you?" Rick yelled, snatching up the bag and pulling Jimmy inside the building, "I told you not to open the bag! And you did anyway!" Rick growled, squeezing Jimmy's wrist tighter and tighter, "Did you think you were going to steal from me, boy? After all I've done for you and your whore of a mother!?"

Tears welled up in Jimmy's eyes as Rick yelled at him and kept a very tight hold on his wrist, "I'm sorry!" he cried out, "I just wanted to look and see what was in the bag. I wasn't gonna steal none of it!" Jimmy pulled at his wrist, but Rick held it too tight, "please let me go," Jimmy whimpered, tears now streaming down his face.

At this point, Jimmy's mother walked back into the building, "You son-of-a-bitch!" his mother yelled, rushing to Jimmy's aid. She pulled Jimmy away from Rick, who released him now without arguing. She hugged Jimmy tightly, giving a look of complete abhorrence to Rick, "what the hell do you think you were doing?" she noticed the bag in Rick's hand. She knew he sold drugs, and recognized the bag as either drugs or the money from a drug sale.

"Don't bother coming back here," Rick spat.

"I wouldn't come back here for all the money in the world," Jimmy's mother replied, scowling at Rick. Jimmy had never seen his mother so angry. He hoped she still loved him. He hadn't meant for this to happen. He didn't know Rick would see him looking in the bag; he was just trying to steal a little bit of money because he knew his mother needed it.

Jimmy sobbed as his mother carried him away from Rick's house. She walked a distance and then sat him down on a bench.

"I'm so sorry, baby," she told him, with tears in her eyes.

Jimmy looked up at her. He was certain she was going to be angry with him, but now she was apologizing to him?

"Are you hurt?" she asked, looking him over. She looked at his wrist where Rick had held him, "Is your wrist okay?"

With tears still streaming down his face, Jimmy sniffed, "I don't know," he said softly.

She gently lifted his wrist and rubbed it with her slender fingers, "I don't think it's broken, sweety. You'll be okay. I'm so sorry," she was crying now and pulled Jimmy close, hugging him.

Jimmy had stopped crying now. He wasn't physically hurt very badly, and was now just a bit disturbed at the fact his mother was sobbing right in front of the world, when she normally tried so hard to keep her feelings hidden.

For what seemed like a long time, the two of them stayed in this position. After a while, Jimmy's mother took him home, only to find the abandoned building they had been living in was surrounded by men who looked to be architects. Some were walking in and out of the building while others were pointing at various walls and windows and then down at papers, talking amongst themselves.

Jimmy looked up at his mother, who was silent, "remember when I told you we were just borrowing that building for a while?" she asked Jimmy. He nodded, "Well... someone else is going to use it now..." her voice sounded as though she was fighting hard not to cry, "we'll find somewhere else to live..."

For a while they walked around until they ended up in front of a building with no windows. Apparently his mother could find nothing any better, so settled for this. She made a bed for Jimmy out of some clothing.

Hugging Jimmy, she said to him, "I love you very much, Jimmy. I know you never knew your father, but when he left, he was young and scared. I'm sure he's grown up now. He'll be more responsible now, and surely has a paying job. If you went to live with him, he could take care of you."

"But I don't want to live with him!" Jimmy protested, "I want to live with you... I don't know him... I want to live with you."

"He's your father, Jimmy. He'll take care of you," she insisted, writing something down on a piece of paper, "if anything ever happens to me, take this piece of paper and go to the address written on it, okay?"

Jimmy nodded, "but nothing will happen to you," he said, his voice small and uncertain.

She hugged him again, "I love you Jimmy. I always will. Now go to sleep."

Jimmy laid on the tattered clothing, watching his mother look out the hole where a window once was. He had never seen her act like this before. He wondered why she was so sad all of a sudden. Was she sick? Was she going to die? Or maybe she was too tired of all of his mistakes and was planning on leaving him here all alone. He hadn't meant to make Rick angry with him. He watched her and thought about these things until he fell asleep.

**_xxxxxx_**

**_Please review and let me know how I'm doing. I'll try to update soon. :)_**


	2. Chapter 2

**_Disclaimer (which I forgot in Chapter1) I do not own any of the King Kong characters. :)_**

**_Thank you to anyone who read and reviewed (or just read) the previous chapter. Here's the next one:_**

**_xxxxxx_**

Chapter2:

The sun had risen already by the time Jimmy awoke. He looked around the room where he had slept the previous night. His mother wasn't there. This wasn't especially alarming, as his mother often left in the mornings to steal money from people's pockets or to snatch a few apples from a vendor who wasn't looking. What was alarming, however, was the small pile of things Jimmy saw laying next to his makeshift bed. The pile consisted of an apple, the piece of paper she had written on the night before, and a small paper pouch. He picked up the pouch and opened it. Inside was a small sum of money. He closed the pouch and put it back down. He probably was meant to leave it alone.

For a few hours Jimmy stayed in the room, wondering when his mother would return. When she hadn't returned after a time, Jimmy picked up the piece of paper and unfolded it. In addition to the address, there was a note written. Jimmy's mother had taught him how to read, though he, being only six, still had to sound some words out slowly. He read the note:

"_Dearest,_

_I love you very much. I had to go somewhere, but I know you will be fine. Take this money and make your way to your daddy's house. His name is Steven Miller. Tell him I sent you and as his one and only favour to me, he is to take you in. I know it seems unfair now, Jimmy, but you will be better off with him. I cannot take care of you, so I'm trusting he will. Always remember I love you. I'm not angry with you for any reason. My leaving is in no way your fault._

_Love always,_

_Mother."_

Jimmy felt tears stinging his eyes as he read this. Where had she gone? Why would she just leave him all alone like this? Maybe if he just stayed there for a while, she would come back and he could convince her to stay...

Jimmy laid back down on the pile of clothing, curling himself into a ball and looking down at his wrist Rick had hurt the previous day. A large bruise encircled his wrist. The bruise was a reminder of why his mother left him. She said she wasn't mad at him, but why else would she have left right then? They had been through a lot of tough times together, and she had never left before. She only left after Jimmy had made her boss angry. This was all his fault.

Sobbing, Jimmy laid on the rags until he fell asleep again.

xxxxxx

When he woke up, his mother still wasn't there. It looked to be about mid-day now, judging by the position of the sun in the sky. Jimmy picked up the pouch of money again and poured it out onto the floor, counting it slowly. The pouch contained three dollars and thirty four cents. He stuffed the money and the note into the pocket of his pants, and picked up the apple. He hadn't eaten anything the previous night, so he was very hungry. He bit into the apple and made his way outside, thinking maybe his mother would be in the city somewhere. He had to find her.

He didn't really know where to start looking. Perhaps the family he had lived with before would know where she was... but Jimmy didn't know where to find them either. He asked the first person he saw if they had seen his mother.

"'Scuse me, sir!" Jimmy yelled.

The man who had been walking by looked wealthy. He turned toward Jimmy, "Hm?" he asked.

"Um... have you seen a lady around here... she has hair the colour like mine, but longer and sort of curly... she wears a brown coat... um..." Jimmy didn't really know how to describe his mother in a way that would distinguish her from most other women in the city, "Um... blue eyes..." his voice started shaking and he fought the urge to cry.

"Are you lost?" the man asked.

Jimmy shook his head, "no," he said quietly, "my mother is lost."

"Alright... well, let's find her then," the man offered, "how old is she? Do you know?"

"I don't know," Jimmy said, "she's a grown up."

The man nodded, "Well... how long is her hair?" he asked.

"It's about down to here," Jimmy said, pointing to a spot under his arm, "and it's curly too. Not like mine... but the same colour as mine though."

Jimmy and this man walked around the city for an hour or so, stopping women who fit Jimmy's description of his mother, but none of them were her. After a while it seemed they would never find her.

"I don't think she's in the city anymore, kid," the man said, "you might want to file a missing person's report at the police station. Do you have any idea where she might have gone?"

Jimmy shook his head, "She left me a note that said she had to leave, but she didn't say where she was going."

The man with him sighed, "Well... sorry kid, but I don't think she's here. Seems like she had something she needed to do... I don't think there's anything else I can do to find her."

"Okay," Jimmy said, looking down at his feet and holding back tears.

"Do you have any other family? Anywhere I can take you?" the man offered.

Jimmy stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out the note with the address and handed it to the man, "do you know where this place is?" he asked, pointing at the address.

The man looked down at the note for a moment and then looked into Jimmy's eyes. He sighed again, "Yeah," he said, "I can take you there. It's just a few miles. Closer to the sea. Come on. My car's right over here."

Jimmy followed the man to his car. He had never been in a car before. He climbed into the back seat. The man had a driver, so he sat in the back with Jimmy.

It didn't take long to get to their destination, and all the while neither of the two said a word.

"Here it is then," the driver said.

"Thank you," Jimmy told both the men as he opened the car door after a moment of searching for the handle.

"Good luck," the man told him.

After a moment Jimmy found himself standing in front of a rather shabby looking house, scared to go inside, but even more scared to stay outside. He walked up the front steps and knocked on the door. After a moment, a man opened the door and looked down at him. He didn't look entirely friendly. Jimmy hoped this man wasn't his father.

"Um..." Jimmy began, "Are... are you Steven Miller?"

The man narrowed his eyes and almost scowled down at Jimmy, "Who are you? What do ya want?"

Jimmy swallowed nervously, "Um... if you are Steven Miller... um..." Jimmy was very nervous. He took his mother's note out of his pocket and handed it to the man, "my mom... she said... she told me to come here..." He stopped trying to explain himself as the man before him snatched the note out of his hand and read over it.

"She can't do this," the man growled.

Jimmy turned to leave. Even if this man was his father, he didn't really want to live with him.

"But I guess I have no choice," the man continued, grabbing Jimmy's arm and pulling him inside the small house where he lived, "it really wasn't my fault your mom got pregnant. We were stupid. We didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. She should have..." he sighed, "never mind... How old are you now?"

"Six," Jimmy answered.

"Well, I don't know if you understand this sort of thing yet, but I'm really not old enough to have a six year old kid. I'm twenty six. You may think that's old, but it really isn't. I don't think you understand how hard it's going to be for me to take care of you," Steven complained.

"You don't have to," Jimmy told him. This man was nothing like his mother. He didn't seem at all willing to make his life a bit more difficult for the benefit of his own child. His mother had sacrificed a lot in the six years she spent with him, but this man wasn't any sort of parent he cared to have, "I'll just go."

"I can't just let you leave," Steven told him, "I may not want you here, but you're still my kid."

Jimmy looked down at his feet.

"Just stay around the house and don't cause any trouble. I go to work early in the morning and get back around this time every day, give or take an hour or so. While I'm gone... just don't do anything stupid. Maybe you can get a job as a paper boy or something to help pull your own weight."

Jimmy nodded. His mother had never asked him to get a job. He had tried to, because he knew it would be helpful, but he never could manage to do so.

"I'm going to go out now," Steven told him, "See ya later."

With that, Jimmy's father left him all alone in a house he had never set foot in before. Jimmy sighed. What was he supposed to do now? He decided to have a look about the house. It was quite small, but at least it was a house and not just an abandoned building like his mother and he lived in so often. There was a small kitchen and a bedroom with a small bed, and then a main room with one chair and a book shelf, which had a few half empty bottles of something on it, but no books.

Still hungry, Jimmy went back into the kitchen and looked around, but there was absolutely no food there. Only a few more bottles like the ones on the book shelf. He left the house and walked outside, eventually finding a market where he bought some bread with some of the money his mother had left.

He walked back to the house and sat on the steps. He didn't like the smell of Steven's house, so he stayed out on the steps, nibbling on the bread.

xxxxxx

Over the next years, Jimmy lived with Steven, who barely noticed him most of the time. Whenever Steven was home, he was usually either drunk or hung over from drinking the previous night. Either way, he was quick to anger, so Jimmy did his best to stay away from him.

Steven didn't take care of Jimmy at all. Every once in a while there would be food at the house, so Jimmy wouldn't have to resort to stealing, but Steven mostly just worried about himself. He would often yell at Jimmy for not having a job, yet would not even return home some nights and hadn't ever gotten any sort of bed for his son. Jimmy slept on the chair in the main room and took care of himself for the most part.

After moving in with Steven, Jimmy didn't celebrate his birthday anymore, and didn't even bother keeping track of the date, as it didn't matter to him at all. Judging by the seasons, Jimmy guessed he was eleven years old now, or almost so.

He had put up with Steven for five years now, occasionally receiving unwarranted punishments such as being hit or yelled at. Nevertheless, he figured he was better off being hit and yelled at every once in a while than not having a house at all.

Steven had gone out drinking with his friends again, leaving Jimmy alone, as usual. Jimmy, having run out of money long ago, resorted to stealing money whenever he could, and while he was good at stealing, some people in the town knew he was a thief and kept an eye on him when he was around their shops or pockets.

Jimmy hadn't eaten all day, or since mid-day the previous day, and it was nearly night time. His stomach growled as he strolled down the street searching for something to eat, or someone whose pockets he could pick.

Next to a shop there was a man selling fish. A customer had set his bag down on the ground next to him as he looked over the fish for sale. This was the perfect opportunity for Jimmy. He could steal some money out of the bag, and no one would ever know he had been there. Then he could use the money to buy something to eat, or he could steal something now and use the money later.

Untying his shoe, Jimmy looked across the street at the stand. He quietly walked up to the fish stand and pretended to be looking at the fish, and then knelt down, slowly retying his shoe. The man next to him looked suspiciously down at him, which Jimmy thought he would do, which is why he had untied his shoe in the first place, to have a reason to crouch down so close to the man's bag. When the man looked back up, Jimmy carefully reached into the bag until he found a wallet. He took a few bills out, but not all of them, and then replaced the wallet and stood up, stuffing the money into his pocket. As casually as he could, he walked away from the fish stand.

Just as he thought he had gotten away with it, he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder. Jimmy tried to pull away so he could run, but the hand on his shoulder held him tight. He was spun around and looked up to see a very angry looking man staring down at him.

"You stealing from me, boy?" the man asked.

Jimmy shook his head.

"I ain't stupid, kid," the man growled, squeezing his shoulder hard enough to likely leave a bruise, "Gimme the money back, and I won't turn you in to the police."

Jimmy's eyes widened. What would the police do to him if he was turned in? But could this man even prove he had stolen from him? "I didn't steal nothin!" Jimmy yelled back at him, very defiant.

"Oh, really?" the man pushed Jimmy roughly against a wall and forced his hand into each of Jimmy's pockets, one after the other, "What's this then?" he yelled, pulling the money out of Jimmy's pocket, while still pinning him against the wall of the building.

"That ain't your money!" Jimmy lied.

"Where's a kid get this much money then?" the man asked, skeptically.

Jimmy thought quickly, "my dad gave it to me... to buy things... because he's busy working."

"Don't lie to me, boy," the man scowled, putting the money back into his bag, "if I ever catch you tryin' to steal from me again, I won't let you off this easy, you understand?"

Jimmy frowned and didn't answer. He felt the man's hand come in contact with his face, hitting him hard just below the eye, just like his father often did when he was drunk.

"You understand?!" the man yelled, obviously losing his patience.

Jimmy nodded, pulling away from the man as he released him. Everyone on the street was looking in his direction. Now it would be impossible to steal anything from anyone, as they would all be watchful of him. Furthermore, it was beginning to rain, and there would be no one walking about in the rain, so Jimmy knew there was no way he would be picking anyone's pockets tonight. He sulked back to Steven's house and curled up on the chair. He was so tired, and not being able to eat again wasn't helping the matter.

He was planning on just sleeping for a while, as there was nothing else to do. Even this plan was soon dashed when his father walked through the door.

"Didn't I tell you to stay off my chair?" Steven yelled, slamming the door loudly behind him.

Jimmy quickly stood from the chair, looking fearfully up at Steven. He seemed angry, and smelled strongly of alcohol. Jimmy moved out of Steven's way as he walked toward the chair and sat down in it.

While his father sat in the chair, complaining quietly to himself, Jimmy stood with his back against the wall, looking over at the man in the chair.

"What are you looking at?" Steven yelled, standing up and walking toward Jimmy who backed away as much as he could, "it's not bad enough that your stupid mother had to go kill herself or whatever the hell she did and dump you off on me, but then you sit in my chair, always in my way and just stare at me? I let you stay at my house so you can just stand there and judge me?!"

Jimmy shook his head, "no... I wasn't... I... I'll just go outside..."

"Oh, no you don't!" Steven protested, grabbing Jimmy's arm. Steven seemed more drunk than usual, and also more angry than usual. Jimmy could tell this wasn't going to be an easy night, "why don't you have a job yet?" he growled, shaking Jimmy roughly, "I tell you every day to stop being lazy and to get a job, but you don't listen to me!" By now, Steven was yelling, holding onto Jimmy's slender shoulders and shaking him with almost every word.

"I tried," Jimmy's small voice protested, "I don't know where to get a job. There's already a boy selling papers on the corner, and-"

Jimmy was cut off in mid-sentence when he felt a sharp pain as his father back-handed him across the face, causing his skin to sting and tears to well up in his eyes. He always did his best not to cry, but sometimes his body created tears on its own, "There you go, making excuses again!" Steven accused him, "Tomorrow, you're going to get a job... and if you don't find one, don't bother coming back here at the end of the day! I don't work all day just so you'll use all my money and not do any work yourself!"

Jimmy frowned. He often tried to just let his father say what he wanted to say, as he knew it was no use to argue and he would be better off to keep his mouth shut. He hated when his father said things like that though, even though he knew it wasn't true. He didn't know why he argued back then. Maybe it was because he wanted his father to see how unfair he was being, "I don't use any of your money!" Jimmy yelled back at the angry man, while trying to pull his arm out of his grasp, "You are never even here! You just come home to sleep and then leave to get drunk! I steal money and food for myself, from people on the streets."

"You steal?" Steven growled. Jimmy immediately regretted his words. They hadn't made Steven understand him at all. Instead, he had only made his father more angry, "if you steal money all the time, then where is it? You been wasting it on stupid things like toys?"

Jimmy shook his head.

"Well, where is it then? If you're getting money from somewhere, I expect you to hand it over to me, since I'm the one who provides for this family," Steven continued.

"I don't have any money. I couldn't steal any today," Jimmy told him.

"So where's the money from other days then?" Steven asked, "Don't try to lie to me. I know you didn't spend all of it. Where is it?!"

Jimmy could feel himself shaking. He tried to pull away from Steven again, successfully freeing only one of his arms. He shouldn't have told Steven that he had stolen money, "I really don't have any!" he pleaded as his father's grip tightened on his other arm, "let me go!" he finally yelled, desperately trying to squirm out of Steven's grasp before he ended up any more hurt than usual.

"You tell me where that money is, or you're gonna get punished," his father threatened.

Jimmy's eyes were impossibly wide, "there is no money!" he repeated, "please, just let me go! I'll get a job tomorrow! I promise!" Jimmy knew he probably wouldn't be able to get a job, but he was willing to say anything he could think of to get his father to let him go, even if it was a lie.

"You little liar!" Steven growled, twisting Jimmy's left arm roughly until the boy cried out in pain, and even then didn't stop until he was sure Jimmy's arm was broken. He then grabbed ahold of both Jimmy's arms again and pushed him hard against the wall.

Jimmy struggled to get away, but his father held onto him tightly, and while Jimmy had the upper hand due to the fact that his father was quite intoxicated, he was very much outmatched in the strength department. He managed to free himself, but his father wrestled him to the ground, holding him down with his knee crushing his arm, with one hand gripping his other arm, and with one hand gripping his throat.

The pressure of his father's knee caused most of the man's body weight to be smashing Jimmy's left arm. It hurt horribly. Jimmy gasped as the pain quickly became worse when he tried to pull his arm out from under the man. Tears rolled down his cheeks as the pain was becoming almost unbearable and he felt he might soon pass out. He welcomed the thought of losing consciousness, as he knew it would mean his father might just leave him lying on the floor instead of hurting him any further.

Jimmy finally managed to squirm out from under his father. He rushed to the door as quickly as he could, holding his left arm against his chest as it throbbed in pain. He swung the door open and ran out into the rain, away from the house as fast as he could, heading toward the docks and not bothering to look back.

**_xxxxxx_**

**_Please review if you'd like. I'll try to update soon._**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter3:

Rain was pouring down by the time Jimmy reached the docks. He was completely drenched. As he shivered and held his left arm as gently as he could with his right hand, he quietly watched sailors unloading or loading crates into the ships. He wasn't sure where he planned on going, but he couldn't live in New York anymore. He had endured enough over the years, and this was the last straw. Standing in the shadows so none of the nearby sailors could see him and question why he was there all alone at such a young age, Jimmy watched for the opportune moment to sneak aboard one of the ships.

Presently, there were three ships at the dock. He hoped he would be able to find the right time to sneak onto the one closest to his hiding place, so he wouldn't have to walk far enough in plain view to be caught. He wasn't sure what he would do once on the ship either. He would hide, of course, but he didn't know where any of them were going, and knew the sailors would most surely not let him stay aboard if they found him. Ordinarily a child his age might have thought better than to follow through with this plan, but he didn't have a choice. Life in New York was too difficult. He barely survived off food he stole, and definately didn't have any parental figure. Surely wherever the ships were going couldn't be any worse.

Jimmy waited until all of the sailors loading crates into the nearest ship were gone. They had probably gone off to drink somewhere before taking off. Or perhaps they were going to wait until morning before sailing off. At any rate, Jimmy knew there was likely at least one sailor left on board to guard the ship, so he would have to be quiet and quick so to not be caught.

As quickly and silently as he could manage, he climbed aboard the vessel and quickly made his way down the stairs, below deck. It didn't seem like anyone had seen him. He hadn't seen anyone else on the ship either. He looked around below the deck. It was a rather large area full of large cages. Jimmy wasn't sure what the cages were used for, but assumed some kind of animals would reside in them, unless the ship transported cages to people wanting to buy cages, which might seem odd, but to his young mind seemed possible. At any rate, he assumed he could hide in one of the cages and probably not be seen for a while. If the cages were being transported somewhere, the sailors wouldn't be down here until they reached their destination.

Jimmy made his way to the back of the room and climbed into one of the cages. He sat down and sighed. He knew he wasn't completely safe just yet, but somehow being in this cage where no one else was around made him feel safer. It would take stealthy work to avoid being caught later, but he figured he was safe for at least the moment.

The air in the cage was cold, and his clothing was wet. He knew he wouldn't be getting any warmer if he was still all wet. As best as he could, he rung out his pants, keeping them on. He didn't want to not be wearing pants if someone happened to come down and find him. They weren't completely soaked through anyway. He could, however, risk being caught without a shirt on. That wouldn't be nearly as embarrassing. The boy took off his shirt and wrung it out, hanging it on the bars of the cage and then looking down at his left arm.

His arm was covered in bruises. Jimmy didn't know much about health related topics, but he could make an educated guess that his arm was probably broken. It hurt horribly every time he touched it, and didn't look as straight as he felt it probably should. He shivered in the cold. Would his arm heal on it's own? He wasn't really sure. He has sustained injuries before, and they always healed, but he hadn't ever had a broken bone. What if it wouldn't heal on it's own? Maybe he could fix it himself. Jimmy took his left arm in his right hand, wincing at the pain he felt as he touched the bruises. He began to try to straighten his arm back to normal, but it hurt so much he couldn't stand it. With tears in his eyes, he gave up, leaning back against the back wall of the cage.

He shivered again. He was so tired of being cold. He stood up. Perhaps there was some sort of clothing or blankets around. He slowly walked about below the deck of the ship. He was feeling more and more exhausted by the minute. He couldn't remember the last time he had a decent meal or full night's sleep. In fact, he figured the last time he had eaten at all was two days ago, and even that was just an apple he had stolen. He continued walking until he found a few crates sitting next to each other beside one of the cages. He tried to pull the lid off of one, but it was nailed shut, and there was no way he was going to be able to open it with his bare hands. The other crate was sealed in the same fashion.

Jimmy exhaled tiredly, looking around one last time before returning to the cage he had originally chosen. He laid down in the corner of the cage and closed his eyes. He didn't mean to fall asleep of course. He needed to be aware of his surroundings in case someone decided to go below deck, so he could be sure to hide as best as possible. Standing, however, and even sitting up was making him feel like he might pass out, so he needed to lay down. As he lay there, shivering, he tried to keep himself awake. However, he was unsuccessful, and fell asleep within minutes.

Jimmy woke up with a gasp. He had forgotten where he was. He forced himself to sit up, though his body ached. He didn't remember if he had been dreaming, but his rapid breathing made him guess he might have been having some sort of nightmare, even though he couldn't remember it now. He felt more frightened than he had before he had fallen asleep. Then he noticed the floor seemed to be moving slightly. In fact, the entire cage did. He quickly realized the ship was moving because it had probably taken off while he was asleep and was now rocking back and forth on the sea. Jimmy wanted to see if it was morning now, but there were no windows below deck, and he was not about to risk being caught above deck. He supposed it didn't matter. What was important was that he was now out of New York. He was going someplace new, and hopefully better.

He reached up and felt his shirt which was still hanging on the bars of the cage. It was virtually dry, still somewhat damp, but not nearly as bad as it had been earlier. His pants were nearly dry as well. He figured the shirt was dry enough and put it back on; it would have to finish drying while he was wearing it.

He wondered how long the ship would sail before reaching it's destination. He might have to sneak up and steal something to eat. Had he thought of it, he would have stolen something from a vendor before sneaking aboard, but he was in too much of a hurry to even think of it. He didn't really have a strong desire to eat right now, but he knew it was only because he had been going so long without food, his body was getting used to it. He knew he would feel less tired if he ate something, but also knew getting ahold of food wasn't going to be an easy task, and he might be better off just waiting. Surely the ship wouldn't take _that_ long to get where it was going...

_What was he supposed to do now?_ Jimmy wondered. Looking around, Jimmy noticed the two crates he had found the previous night, or whenever it was before he had fallen asleep. Perhaps he would be able to find something to open them with... Their contents might be anything. If they contained food or dry clothing, it would be very convenient for him to be able to open them.

Jimmy stood up, regretting this move when his vision clouded over. He supposed he had stood up too fast. He sank back down, closing his eyes for a moment and then opening them again. He could see again. He decided to stand more slowly this time. As he stood, his vision remained as normal, but his head still swam. He knew he might faint if he tried walking around, but if the crates contained something which would help him, he needed to open them.

Bracing himself by holding onto one of the cages, Jimmy scanned the area with his eyes. He couldn't see anything which would loosen the nails from the crates, and he was beginning to feel more and more like he should sit back down before his body made him on its own. He inhaled as deeply as he could and made his way out of the cage, looking around as he slowly walked along the rows of cages. He hadn't made it very far when he decided to go back to the cage he had been in originally. If he was going to faint, he didn't want to do so right in the middle of the floor where someone would find him.

When he made it back to the cage, he sat down in the corner and closed his eyes. Maybe after resting for a bit longer he would find moving about to be easier. He didn't want to fall asleep again, but thought he could just sit with his eyes closed for a few minutes. Breathing rapidly, he stayed leaning against the bars until he finally gave up trying to stay awake and let himself slide down onto the floor, quickly falling into an uncomfortable sleep.

**_A few notes: First off, I'm sorry this chapter was a bit shorter than the last two... But don't worry. The next one is longer (and has Mr. Hayes in it.) :) Also, I'm sorry it is taking me so long to update. The semester is nearing an end, and I've got tons of exams and papers due... I promise I will finish this though, maybe not quickly, but eventually. I already have some of the next chapters written, but I need to proof-read them, which requires time and desire, and sometimes I really don't feel like proof-reading, so I don't, because I don't want to make mistakes and publish something crappy just because I was in a bad mood..._**

**_Another note... if you are interested, this was originally the first chapter of this story. I wasn't going to have the background for it at all, but then thought I probably should explain what happened to Jimmy before _The Venture. _Just a little bit of info... :)_**


	4. Chapter 4

**_Hmmm... I think a few people are still reading this... You'll be glad to know this chapter is much longer than the last, and also much more eventful. :) Enjoy:_**

Chapter4:

When Jimmy woke up, it was due to the feeling of someone's hand on his arm... his left arm, which was broken. The hand grasping his arm would have normally not been so alarming, but the gentle shaking was causing him pain due to the condition of his arm. He could hear someone saying something, but in his state of half-sleep couldn't make out what the words were.

He opened his eyes and pulled his arm away from whomever was shaking it. Remaining on the floor, he crawled into the furthest corner of the cage and looked up at the large man who was looking down at him. Jimmy didn't know anything about the crew of this ship. He didn't know what sort of business they ran or whether they were generally good people or bad; he certainly didn't know what they might do if they found him sneaking free passage on their ship.

With wide eyes transfixed on the large sailor, Jimmy used his right arm to grasp a bar of the cage and pull himself up so he could be ready to run if he got the chance. Right now, however, the sailor was blocking the only exit of the cage.

"Are you okay?" the sailor asked him.

The boy narrowed his eyes. He could feel himself shaking and knew he probably didn't look _'okay,'_ but didn't want to show any sort of weakness if he could avoid it.

The large man looked down at him, waiting for an answer Jimmy wasn't going to give. After a moment he tried a different question, "What are you doing down here, kid?" he asked.

Jimmy still didn't answer. Keeping his eyes on the man standing before him, Jimmy released the bar he was gripping with his right hand and used his uninjured arm to hug his other arm, as his shivering was causing his arm to shake, causing the broken bones to hurt more.

"Are you going to answer me?" the sailor asked. Jimmy couldn't tell if the man was angry or not. He shook his head, gesturing he wasn't planning on saying anything. The large man asked again, "Are you hurt?" When Jimmy still didn't answer, the man took a step toward him and was about to say something when Jimmy yelled out.

"Get away from me!" he cried out, attempting to push the man away and hurrying to the opposite side of the cage. The sailor stayed back as Jimmy stared at him with wide eyes and breathed rapidly.

Jimmy inhaled and exhaled shakily as he felt more and more like he was about to pass out. He kept his eyes toward the sailor even when his vision started to fade. Even though he couldn't really see the man anymore, at least maybe the man would think he could and wouldn't try anything. However, Jimmy couldn't hide the fact that he was beginning to fall forward. He grabbed onto the cage to hold himself up, as the large man stepped forward as if in an attempt to steady him or prevent him from falling.

As the sailor gripped his upper arms gently but firmly, Jimmy tried desperately to pull away. He didn't know if he could trust this man. He was so exhausted and frightened; he couldn't think at all. He just wanted everyone to leave him alone.

"Get off me!" he gasped, struggling to get out of the man's grasp. He could hear the man telling him something, but couldn't make out what it was over his own pleas, "Let me go!" he urged. The man's grip on his left arm was beginning to hurt him. He pulled at his left arm, focusing all his energy on just getting his left arm free. In doing so, he made his arm hurt even more. Tears welled up in his eyes as he finally heard what the sailor was saying.

"Calm down!" the sailor advised, "I'm not going to hurt you... Just sit down. If I let go of you now you'll fall."

Shaking, Jimmy allowed the man to lower him back down to a sitting position on the floor. He then let go of Jimmy's arms and took a step back.

Breathing rapidly, Jimmy looked back up at the man.

"I'm sorry if I hurt you," the sailor said, "I didn't want you to hit your head on anything. Now, will you at least tell me your name? Just your first name?"

Jimmy shook his head, still breathing rapidly and feeling as though he was on the verge of fainting. He flinched back as the man suddenly sat down in front of him.

"I guess I'll talk then," he the sailor began, "My name's Ben. You can call me Mr. Hayes if you want," he told the boy, "Do you want to hear some things about this ship?"

Jimmy looked at him skeptically. What was he talking about? How was any of this relevant?

"The ship is called _The Venture._ We sail to various places around the world and capture animals to be brought to zoos and circuses. That's what the cages are for. We catch all sorts of wild animals and put them in these cages to take them back to the states. You know, not very long ago, there was a tiger in this very cage," Mr. Hayes informed him, "and now you're here... but you won't say why, or who you are... but I know you aren't just some circus animal. You don't belong down here. So why don't you come up on deck with me? And we'll find you a room and something to eat and drink."

Jimmy looked silently at Mr. Hayes. He wanted to trust him. He seemed genuine enough, yet Jimmy was so scared that trusting him would be a bad decision. He wondered if the sailor would just allow him to stay below deck in the cages or if he would force him to go upstairs. Upstairs there would surely be other sailors whom he would encounter. He really didn't want any more people to see him. Surely not all of the sailors were as kind as this one. What if the others were angry with him for sneaking aboard their ship? What would they do to him? Jimmy shook his head. He felt tears welling up in his eyes. He was so scared.

"You can't stay down here," Mr. Hayes said again, "what are you so afraid of? No body's gonna hurt you. Come on then," Hayes said more sternly as though he was the boy's father, giving him an order. His tone was no longer asking the boy to obey, but rather telling him.

Jimmy swallowed hard, looking up at Hayes and wondering what he was going to do.

"I'm not asking you anymore," Hayes informed him, "That's an order. You're on this ship, so you'll do as the first mate tells you. You understand?"

Jimmy nodded, using his uninjured arm to pull himself to his feet as he kept his wide eyes transfixed on the man in front of him. He didn't know if this new more stern tone was a trick to get him to comply, but if it was, it was definitely working. Either this man was trying a new approach to get Jimmy to do as he said, or he was getting angry with him, and Jimmy didn't want this large man to be angry with him.

Jimmy followed Mr. Hayes out of the cage and stood outside of the cage where Mr. Hayes had stopped. The large man put his hand on Jimmy's back, probably to guide him upstairs. Jimmy shrunk away from his hand and continued to follow the man up the stairs. When they made it to the top, Jimmy squinted in the bright sunlight and moved closer to Hayes so none of the other sailors would see him. Hayes led him to a bed room and sat him down on the bed.

"What's your name?" Mr. Hayes asked.

Jimmy didn't like that the man wasn't giving him much of an option anymore. Instead of asking if he would answer questions, he was simply pushing the question at him as though answering it was his only option. He supposed giving his first name would do no harm anyway, so he might as well answer.

"Jimmy," he answered, almost in a whisper. He didn't want anyone outside of the room to hear him. He hoped no one else would learn of his presence aboard the ship.

"Okay, Jimmy," Mr. Hayes began, "can I see your arm?" he asked.

Jimmy frowned. He supposed Mr. Hayes had noticed that his arm was injured. It was covered entirely with the sleeve of his shirt, but perhaps the fact Jimmy refrained from using it indicated that it was injured. He shook his head. It seemed like Hayes wanted to help him, but he had tried himself to fix his arm before, and it didn't work. It hurt just to touch it. Jimmy would rather just leave it alone and hope it healed itself.

"Let me see your arm, Jimmy," Hayes repeated, looking very serious and sounding even more serious.

Jimmy was sitting with his left arm gently resting on his lap. He looked down at it and then back up at Hayes. He tried not to, but he could feel himself shaking again. He didn't make any move to show the first mate his arm. He sat completely still and inhaled a shaky breath.

Hayes slowly reached toward Jimmy's arm. Jimmy contemplated attempting to escape, but he knew there was no where he could go. He tried to steady his breathing as he was nearly panicking.

The sailor gently rolled up the sleeve of Jimmy's shirt, which was much too big for his small frame. Jimmy looked down at his arm as Hayes did this. He saw, again, the large bruises covering his arm, and the spots which looked broken. The bruises were now even darker than they had been before. He bit his lower lip and looked up at Hayes.

When he looked into the sailor's eyes, he saw something he hadn't seen in someone's eyes for a long time. This man looked almost sad, as if he felt empathy toward the boy. Jimmy continued to look into the man's eyes, waiting for him to say something about how they were going to go about fixing his arm.

"Well," Hayes began, gently applying pressure up and down Jimmy's arm as the boy winced at the pain it caused, "your arm is definitely broken, Jimmy... but it's fixable. I can see if we have any sort of pain medication if you'd like, before I set the bones back in place."

Jimmy's eyes grew even wider than they had been. The thought of 'setting the bones back in place' sounded very painful.

"Don't worry. I'm sure we've got something to make it hurt much less," Hayes assured him, "And it will only hurt any more than it does right now for a minute. Then all you'll have to do is leave it alone and let it heal. You don't have to be afraid."

Jimmy scowled, "I ain't afraid," he insisted.

Hayes nodded, "Good," he said after a moment of silence. Jimmy wasn't sure if the sailor really believed him.

"I really ain't afraid," he said again, "I'm not a little kid. I ain't scared."

Jimmy saw the look of sorrow and empathy in Hayes' eyes again, "Okay," the man agreed, "now, I'm going to go get some things to fix your arm. If I leave you here, will you promise to stay put?"

Jimmy nodded and watched Mr. Hayes leave the cabin room.

Now alone in the room, Jimmy looked around the small area. He looked down at the mattress of the bed he was sitting on. He wanted to lay down and go to sleep, as he hadn't slept on a bed in a while, and was very tired, but he was also aware of the fact he was in one of the cabins and anyone on the ship might walk in. If someone were to find him while being previously unaware of his presence on board, he didn't want to be asleep when they did so.

Instead, he stayed sitting on the bed and staring at the door. For a few minutes, he kept his gaze fixed on the door. He hoped no one else would come into the room before Hayes got back. After a few more minutes, Jimmy wondered if Mr. Hayes had forgotten about him. Maybe he had other things he had to do on the ship, and was more focused on getting them done before coming back.

Jimmy sighed. He listened closely when he heard people talking outside of the room. It sounded like Mr. Hayes speaking, though Jimmy couldn't be sure, as he hadn't memorized the man's voice just yet. Then he heard someone else speaking in a strange accent Jimmy hadn't heard before. They seemed to be arguing, but not in a horribly out of control manner. It seemed more like a discussion with a few instances of slightly raised voices than an argument, but Jimmy couldn't make out what the men were saying.

He became tense when the door opened. Hayes walked into the room, followed by another man. Jimmy stood up from the bed.

"It's okay, Jimmy," Hayes told him, "This is Captain Englehorn. He's going to help me fix your arm."

Jimmy shook his head. He didn't know this new man, and though he didn't know Hayes either, at least the first mate didn't look angry like the captain did. He would rather Hayes fix his arm, as the other man didn't seem nearly worthy of his trust.

"The sooner you let me mend your arm, the sooner it will start to heal," the captain said, as though telling him the sooner he accepted his fate, the sooner it would be over, "the longer you wait, also, the more your bones will grow back incorrectly, causing much more pain when they are finally correctly aligned," he added.

Jimmy looked up at Hayes, wondering if what Englehorn said was true.

Hayed nodded at him reassuringly, "you can trust him, Jimmy," Hayes told him, "he knows what he's doing. And I'll be here the whole time, okay?"

Jimmy frowned, "It don't even hurt," he lied.

Hayes gave him a stern look telling him with his eyes to do as he was told. Hayes seemed to want what was best for him, but Jimmy was really not looking forward to the pain which would surely come with the realignment of his bones.

Jimmy remained still as he watched Englehorn and Hayes. Englehorn looked down at Jimmy and then at Hayes. Then he reached slowly toward Jimmy's arm. The second he touched it, Jimmy pulled it away.

Englehorn sighed and looked at Hayes, "Why don't we give him a dose of chloroform then?" he asked, clearly agitated.

Hayes shook his head, "too much could kill him," he said, "I'm not going to risk that."

Jimmy looked from one man to the other. Englehorn turned toward him.

"Listen to me, hm?" he began, "you can let me fix your arm, or just let it stay broken. When you try to move it, does it hurt, I wonder? It will not feel any better until you let me fix it... I am not going to wait all day. I'm here _now_, and if you'll let me, I'll fix your arm _now_. This offer expires quite soon. I have other things I need to attend to."

"Okay," Jimmy said, his voice betraying his fear. He really would rather just curl up in a ball and sleep forever, but he knew that wasn't an option. He needed to let Englehorn fix is arm before it grew back the wrong way and was broken forever.

"Alright then," Englehorn began, "It will hurt for a moment, a lot more than now, but then it will begin to heal, okay?"

Jimmy nodded as Mr. Hayes walked over to him and knelt in front of him, looking him in the eyes as Englehorn gently lifted the boy's arm.

"It is broken twice," Englehorn said, "broken in two places..."

Jimmy closed his eyes, "I'm ready," he said, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible.

With his eyes closed, he felt Hayes grip his hand and he squeezed his hand back as Englehorn pushed the bones of both breaks back into their rightful locations. Jimmy winced and intook a sharp breath each time. He felt tears welling in his eyes, but didn't let them fall.

Englehorn splinted his arm as Jimmy opened his eyes and watched, releasing his grip on Hayes's hand. Without a word, Englehorn stood and left the cabin when he was finished.

Jimmy looked up at Mr. Hayes, "Is he mad at me?" he asked. He hoped the captain wasn't angry with him. He hadn't thought about it before, but if that man was the captain of the ship, he could probably make Jimmy leave whenever he wanted to. Jimmy's fate might lay in his hands. He hoped he hadn't made him angry...

"No," Hayes told him, "He's a good guy... just a bit short tempered at times. I'm sure he's not mad at you, Jimmy."

Jimmy nodded and sat still and quietly, looking down at his now splinted arm.

"You're not hurt anywhere else are you?" Hayes asked him.

Jimmy shook his head, "No," he said. He knew he must be covered in bruises, but that was nothing new, and there was nothing to be done to erase bruises.

Hayes sat down next to Jimmy. Jimmy jumped slightly as Hayes reached over and touched his shirt sleeve, "You're shirt's wet," Hayes noted, "you walked through the rain last night, Jimmy?" he asked.

Jimmy stared at him, not answering. Would admitting that give away where he was from? And if so, would the crew of the ship make him go back there?

Hayes hardly seemed to care that Jimmy wasn't answering his questions any longer, "come on," he said, standing from the bed, "we'll find you some dry clothes."

Jimmy stood up and followed close behind Hayes, who led him down a hall until they came in contact with a small Asian man, "Choy," Hayes greeted him, "You have any extra clothing?"

The small man looked up at Hayes and then over at Jimmy who was practically hiding behind the taller man, "Who's that?" he asked, very casually.

"This is Jimmy," Hayes told him, allowing Jimmy to stay hidden. There was a moment of awkward silence and then Hayes spoke again, "he's going to be part of the crew at least for now, though he's got a broken arm, so he won't be doing much work. He needs some dry clothing."

"Aye... Okay. Follow me," he said to Jimmy, walking over to him and taking his uninjured arm, "I get him all fixed up," Choy smiled up at Hayes, "You want me to bring him back to you after?"

"Yes," Hayes said, and then looked down at Jimmy, "I'll see you in a few minutes, okay?" he said, "Choy's gonna find you something dry to wear, and then we can get you something to eat and you can get some rest, okay?"

Jimmy nodded and allowed Choy to lead him off. While they were walking, Choy talked quite a bit. He didn't seem to be very curious as to who Jimmy was and how he ended up on the ship, and for that, Jimmy was grateful.

"You are too short. Pants won't fit, but I might have belt to fix that," he said, "I find shirt for you too. It should fit well enough," Choy told him, "you will look awfully silly with pants dragging under your feet though."

Jimmy didn't know what to say to this man. He hadn't had such a casual conversation about pants and shirts in a while. This guy was completely ignoring what everyone else seemed to want to talk about, which was why was Jimmy here, and what had happened to him. Perhaps Choy already understood that Jimmy wasn't going to answer any of those questions anyway and therefore thought it better not to ask them at all.

"You'll have to buy coat when we dock next. Unless you have one already somewhere. I will let you borrow one of mine for now. I have two coats. One is little smaller than other. I give you that one," Choy continued. Jimmy noticed his English wasn't perfect. He wondered how all of these rather unique people ended up working on this ship together. Englehorn was certainly strange, and while Hayes didn't seem too out of the ordinary, he was much more kind than most men Jimmy had encountered lately. Jimmy wondered who else might comprise the crew of this ship.

"Here is my room," Choy said, opening the door of a rather small room which contained a bed and a small dresser. Choy opened one of the drawers of the dresser and fished around until he found a shirt and pants. He put them on the bed, "Hold on. I know I have belt around here somewhere," Choy said, sifting through the drawers. Finally he found it and put it on the bed as well, "I leave you in here now," Choy said, "You come out when you are done, and I take you back up to Hayes."

Choy closed the door and Jimmy got dressed, having a difficult time maneuvering around his injured arm, but finally managing to get dressed, while he couldn't quite manage to buckle the belt. He opened the door. He didn't want to ask Choy to help him with the belt, but he also didn't want the pants to end up falling down.

"Um," Jimmy began, "Could you... um... help me...?" he asked, gesturing toward the belt.

Choy buckled the belt for him without making fun of him at all. Jimmy half expected he would. He led Jimmy back to the room where he had been with Hayes earlier.

Hayes wasn't there, so Jimmy sat down on the bed while Choy stayed at the door, "I'm sure he will come back soon," Choy assured him, "I have lots to do. I see you later, Jimmy," Choy smiled.

"Good bye," Jimmy said as the cheerful man left the room. When Choy had gone, Jimmy felt guilty for not talking to him more. Choy had spoken a lot and had seemed very friendly, yet Jimmy had hardly said anything. He hadn't even thanked him for letting him borrow his clothing.

Jimmy sighed. His back was starting to hurt from sitting up so long when he was already exhausted. He looked at the door of the room. Maybe Hayes would take a while yet. He laid back on the bed, appreciating how comfortable it was compared to a chair or the floor where he would normally sleep.

He stared up at the ceiling as he laid still on the bed. Without meaning to, again, he fell asleep within a few minutes.

**_xxxxxx_**

**_I feel this was an important chapter, since it's when Jimmy meets most of the crew of The Venture, including Mr. Hayes... so hopefully I wrote it well... I really hope no one is disappointed, but please review and let me know how I'm doing. :)_**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter5:**_

**I know I haven't updated this in forever... so for anyone who is still reading, I'm sorry for taking so long... I mean to finish this eventually, I just have other things going on in my life. But even if it takes me a year, I'll finish the three stories I'm working on now. Maybe not quickly, but eventually...**

**Note: The beginning sequence in _italics_ is a dream:**

**xxxxxx**

_Jimmy opened his eyes and looked around the cabin where he had fallen asleep. It was very dark by now and Hayes still hadn't returned. He sat up from the bed and looked at the door, which had a foreboding, ominous look to it for some reason._

_He jumped as the door opened, to reveal not Hayes, but Steven, his father. Jimmy held his breath. What was Steven doing on the ship? Had he followed him? He could feel himself shaking, but he didn't know what to do. The room had but one door, and Steven was blocking it. He shrank back as much as he could as Steven approached him, saying nothing._

_Jimmy screamed as Steven reached for him, grabbing his un-injured arm and shaking him... He struggled to get out of his father's grasp, but he couldn't manage to free himself._

"_Let me go!" he screamed, feeling more and more panicked by the second. He continued to struggle as he felt tears stinging his eyes. Where was Mr. Hayes? Didn't anyone hear his screaming? Was no one going to help him? He continued struggling and screaming._

"_Jimmy!" his father yelled at him, but it didn't quite sound like his father's voice... _

"Jimmy!" he heard Hayes's voice, "Jimmy, wake up. It's okay... you're okay."

Jimmy's eyes shot open as he gasped when he came to the realization that his father was in fact not in the room with him. He had been dreaming, yet real tears were rolling down his cheeks and he was breathing rapidly, his heart beating rapidly as well. In place of his father, Hayes stood before him, looking nothing short of worried.

"You okay?" he asked, not taking his eyes off Jimmy, "you were just dreaming..."

Jimmy nodded, "I'm fine," he said, exhaling as steadily as he could manage.

Hayes remained silently watching him for a moment, as though waiting for Jimmy to say something. Jimmy knew he wasn't going to say anything though. Mr. Hayes didn't ever need to know what Jimmy had been dreaming. He didn't want to ever talk about it to anyone.

"Here," Mr. Hayes finally said, handing Jimmy a glass of water, "I brought this up for you. Are you hungry?"

Jimmy nodded.

"Well, Lumpy doesn't cook very well, but I did bring you up something," Hayes said, motioning toward a tray on the nightstand beside the bed, "you can try a little and see if you can keep it down."

Jimmy took the glass of water from Hayes and sipped at it. He was rather thirsty, but didn't want to drink the water too quickly.

"Would you like me to leave you alone for a while?" Hayes asked, "I do have some work I need to get done if you'd like to be alone."

"Will you stay here for a while instead?" Jimmy asked him. After his dream, he didn't really want to be left alone in the room just yet. He knew it was irrational to think somehow his father had managed to board the ship, yet he was still shaken.

"Yeah," Hayes answered, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

Hayes looked over at Jimmy. Both were silent for a few moments. Jimmy knew his next question was inevitable, but he also knew he wasn't going to answer it, "What happened to you, Jimmy?" Hayes finally asked, "who hurt you?"

Jimmy broke his eye contact with the man and looked down at his own tattered shoes, "Nothing happened. I just fell down."

"How many times you fall down, Jimmy?" Hayes asked, clearly not buying this story.

Jimmy frowned and looked up at Hayes again, this time looking much more defiant, "What do you care anyway?" he muttered.

"I care because you don't deserve that sort of treatment, Jimmy," Hayes told him.

Jimmy shook his head, "no one did anything to me. It's like I said. I just fell down is all."

Hayes sighed, seeming to give up on this conversation.

"What are you planning to do when we dock?" Hayes asked him, "do you even know where the ship is heading?"

Jimmy's eyes grew wide. He had forgotten about that, "I don't know," he answered, hearing his voice become softer. He knew he would have to deal with this factor sooner or later, but until now he had only been worried about making sure the crew of the ship weren't going to throw him overboard.

"We're going pretty much out in the middle of nowhere, Jimmy," Hayes told him, "then we'll be going back to New York."

Jimmy frowned, "where at in the middle of nowhere?" he asked, knowing that option would surely be better than going back to New York.

Hayes shook his head.

"I can't go back to New York!" he cried out, "can't you just take me somewhere else?"

"Jimmy, we can't just go out of our way to take you somewhere else; furthermore, we can't just drop you off somewhere," Hayes argued, "don't you have some family who is worried about you? Anyone?"

Jimmy would have loved nothing more than to be taken back to his mother, but for some reason she had left him. He didn't know where she was, and knew he would probably never see her again. And of course he wasn't going to go back to his 'father,' "I don't got no family," Jimmy lied, "Can I just stay on the ship? I can work here, and just stay below deck all the time. No one will even notice me!"

Hayes shook his head, "that's not up to me, Jimmy," he told him.

"Is it up to the captain?" Jimmy asked, his voice sounding disappointed.

"Yeah. His call is the one that counts," Hayes answered, "It's his ship. He decides who stays and who goes."

"But he hates me!" Jimmy protested, "What am I gonna do?"

"He doesn't hate you, Jimmy," Hayes insisted, "Like I told you before, he's just a little short tempered. He's like that with everyone. He doesn't hate you."

"I'm not going back to New York. You can't make me," Jimmy scowled up at Hayes.

"No one is going to make you go back, Jimmy," Hayes said after a moment of silence between the two.

"I know that," Jimmy said.

Hayes sighed, "Okay... Well, I'll see what I can do, okay? Now, how about you try eating a little, and I'll go talk to the captain," Hayes suggested

Jimmy looked at the tray. It contained a piece of bread and a bowl of something he couldn't quite place in his mind. He hadn't ever seen anything like that. He wasn't sure if it was even food at all. He wrinkled his nose and then looked up at Hayes when the first mate began laughing.

"What's so funny?" Jimmy asked, frowning and feeling as though Hayes was making fun of him.

"Oh, nothing," Hayes told him, "I just remember having a very similar reaction the first time I saw Lumpy's cooking."

Jimmy started eating the bread slowly, "I'm not that hungry anyway," he lied. He was starving, but he certainly didn't want to eat whatever the pasty substance in the bowl was. The bread would have to suffice for now.

"I'll only be gone for a half hour or so," Hayes told him, "I'll come back and check on you, and then I have to get some work done, okay?"

Jimmy nodded as he chewed the bread which, while slightly stale, tasted completely perfect filling his empty stomach.

When Hayes left, Jimmy quickly finished the bread and the water, but left the other unrecognizable food item. He wanted to sneak after Hayes so he could hear what he and the captain were talking about. He knew they would be talking about him, and he didn't want to miss anything they were saying.

As quietly as he could, he slipped out of the room, looking around until he spotted Hayes walking up to Englehorn who was standing on deck, looking out at the ocean. Jimmy crept along a wall and hid under some stairs near the place where the two men were talking. If neither of the men turned around and looked down, they wouldn't see him. Jimmy hoped they would keep their attention away from the stairs.

By the time he started listening to what was being said, the conversation had already started, but it seemed nothing important had been said yet.

"Well," Hayes said, "he's just a little boy, and I know you probably would like to not have to be responsible for him, but he's here, and we can't just turn our backs on him just because we don't know what to do with him."

"I see that he is just a child, Ben," the captain replied, "and I know we have to do something; I just don't know what at the moment."

At this point Hayes sighed, as though he knew what he was about to say was going to sound ridiculous to the captain, "he doesn't want to go back to the city... I think we should let him stay aboard. We could train him as part of the crew."

"He doesn't _want _to go back?" Englehorn sounded agitated, "maybe you should inform him that life doesn't always go exactly how we _want._"

Now Hayes looked angry, and his voice sounded angry as well, "I think he's well aware of the fact that life don't always go the way he wants it to. Why else do you think he's got a broken arm, broken in _two places_, and is covered in bruises? It's not just a matter if him running away from home because his parents make him do chores. I don't think this is just a childish game to him. There's a reason he don't want to go back."

Englehorn exhaled, "what do you propose we do then?" he asked, "let him stay and be in everyone's way? Do you think we can afford to take on a new crew member who won't be of any assistance in earning any extra income? We will lose money by this, Hayes."

"What would you suggest we do instead?" Hayes argued.

Englehorn shook his head, "You are right, Mr. Hayes. I cannot send him back to wherever he came from... Not after seeing his present condition. I guess the only good thing to do would be to let him stay..."

Hayes nodded. Jimmy could feel himself start to smile. The captain's words hit him like a massive wave of relief. He wouldn't ever have to worry about living with his father again.

"But," Englehorn added, "you must look after him, Hayes. You keep him out of mischief... I don't want him making things any more difficult than they have to be."

"Understood," Hayes agreed.

"I have work to be done," Englehorn said, in a rather bitter tone, "as do you, Mr. Hayes," Jimmy could sense the man didn't really want him on the ship, but didn't know what else to do.

Hayes nodded as Englehorn walked away and Hayes began to walk back toward the room he thought Jimmy occupied. At this, Jimmy remembered he was supposed to be in that room when Hayes returned. How could he sneak back now without Hayes seeing him? Maybe there was another route he could take to get there before Hayes. He certainly didn't want Hayes to know he had been eavesdropping.

Jimmy quickly jogged in the opposite direction from whence he came. Unfortunately, this was the direction Englehorn had gone, and the captain spotted him quickly.

"What are you doing running about already?" Englehorn questioned, "Should you not be resting your injured arm?"

Jimmy remained silent. Englehorn walked toward him as the boy backed up.

"Might you have been listening to our conversation?" Englehorn accused.

Jimmy shook his head. He didn't know if the captain might change his mind about letting him stay.

"When caught in a lie, it's wiser to tell the truth to avoid allowing the lie to spiral into something more massive," Englehorn advised.

Jimmy shook his head again, "I didn't hear nothing... Honest... I was just walking... I have to go though."

Englehorn reached out and grasped Jimmy's unhurt arm, "I already know you heard what the two of us discussed. There's no need to lie."

Jimmy could feel himself beginning to shake with fear. What was the captain going to do now? Might he send him back to New York? Or worse... hurt him in some way as punishment... Jimmy pulled at his arm, and to his surprise, Englehorn let him free without a word. Jimmy backed a few more steps away and then turned and ran back toward the room where Hayes was surely now waiting for him.

He ran quickly, knowing he might just be able to beat Hayes back there if he ran fast enough. He turned a corner only to collide hard with someone else. He fell backwards with a gasp, landing on the floor and coughing in an attempt to regain his breath. When he looked up, he saw Hayes looking down at him.

The first mate squatted down and put his hand on Jimmy's back, "you okay?" he asked, looking Jimmy straight in the eye.

Jimmy nodded between coughs.

"Where were you?" Hayes asked him.

Jimmy looked down. He hoped Hayes wouldn't be angry with him, but he knew if he didn't tell Hayes, the captain would, "I... um-" Jimmy began, "I followed you... and I listened to you talk to the captain... I was trying to get back here before you."

Hayes nodded. Jimmy looked up at him, searching his eyes for any hint of anger or disapproval, but found none.

"Well, I wouldn't sneak around and eavesdrop any more," Hayes advised, "people don't like to be spied on... especially not the captain... But I guess you know already, you can stay on board."

Jimmy felt his lips forming a smile again, and saw Hayes smile back.

"You look tired, Jimmy," Hayes said, "why don't you go back and lay down for a while. I don't think you should be running around just yet."

Jimmy nodded and followed Hayes back to the cabin.

Jimmy laid down on the bed, still appreciating it's comfort. He looked up at Hayes, "thank you," he said, feeling himself becoming more tired.

"For what?" Hayes asked, unsure of what the boy was referring to.

"For making the captain let me stay," Jimmy answered.

"He would have let you stay anyway, Jimmy," Hayes assured him, "he's a little hard to get along with sometimes, but he's got a good heart."

Jimmy nodded, closing his eyes. He didn't really believe what Hayes was telling him, but was too tired to argue. It didn't matter if Englehorn liked him or not anyway. What mattered was that Hayes did.

_**xxxxxx**_

_**Next chapter: skips ahead a few years, so don't say I didn't warn you.**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Like I said before, this chapter skips ahead from the previous one, and I'm so sorry for taking so long to update. I wasn't really sure what to write for the longest time... I think I'm going to tell the story up to Skull Island, and maybe even during Skull Island in Jimmy's point of view... We'll just see what happens... I hope you like this chapter... I'm sort of nervous about posting it...**_

Chapter6:

Jimmy had quickly adapted to life on _The Venture_. By now he knew that Englehorn didn't exactly hate him, but was just always on the edge of losing his temper for some reason. Therefore, Jimmy did his best to either do as the captain asked, or to simply stay out of his way.

Hayes, on the other hand, while also sometimes critical of Jimmy's actions could never stay angry with Jimmy for more than an hour or so. When Hayes was angry with him, Jimmy could tell. He tried not to disappoint Hayes when he could, as doing so made him feel guilty. He hated it when Mr. Hayes disapproved of something he did. Nevertheless, he never learned from the stern looks or disapproving words from the first mate when it came to what a young boy should and should not do in order to obtain things he desired. Jimmy had bit of a habit of stealing things. Both things he needed as well as things he wanted, and even sometimes he would steal just because he liked stealing. He knew Hayes didn't approve, but for some reason, he couldn't stop.

Jimmy spent a lot of time in the crow's nest of the ship. Up there, he didn't have to worry about Englehorn yelling at him; he could instead simply watch the ocean waves and the horizon, all alone with only his own thoughts to preoccupy him. The last time they had docked, Jimmy had been given a few hours to do whatever he pleased, and he did just that, sneaking into a library and stealing a book. He hadn't been given many opportunities to read anything while growing up, but his mother taught him a lot of the basic elements of reading, such as the alphabet and many shorter words. Jimmy wanted to be able to read just as well as anyone, so he chose a book, _The Heart of Darkness_, and took it, fully intending to read it through entirely.

Lately he had been spending his free time attempting to read through the book up in the crows nest, or below deck in the cages, because none of the crew bothered him in either of those places. He knew most of the words in the book, but still a few escaped his knowledge. Nevertheless, he managed to understand the plot of the story, and though he wasn't too far through the book yet, he found it very compelling, and even found himself sighing when he had to put it down to complete some sort of task aboard the ship.

Now the ship was docked in New York. It was beginning to get dark, but it would be about an hour before night fell. Jimmy had listened to Englehorn speaking with some other men earlier, so he knew the ship was going to transport some actors and film directors and all that nonsense. Jimmy didn't really understand why Englehorn agreed to do this in the first place, as it sounded like it would be a pain to have a bunch of stuck up movie producers and actors on board the ship, but he didn't say anything, as Englehorn hadn't known he was listening. That, and he never really liked questioning Englehorn's motives.

By now, however, all of the crew knew what was going on and knew the new passengers would be arriving within an hour. The crew was preparing the ship to shove off. The ship was practically ready with the exception of a few last minute things which needed to be done. Jimmy knew the rest of the crew had it under control, so he stayed below deck where he was presently reading in order to avoid being told to work.

"Jimmy!" he heard Mr. Hayes, "I told you not to be down here."

Jimmy quickly tucked his book into a large pocket of his pants. He didn't want Hayes to wonder where he got the book from, as he knew Hayes would put the pieces together and learn that he had stolen it. Personally, he didn't see the harm in stealing from a wealthy library. They wouldn't miss one book, so why shouldn't he have it? While he didn't see anything wrong with stealing, he knew Mr. Hayes did, and he didn't want to disappoint him. Jimmy stood up and walked out of the cage he had been sitting in to greet Mr. Hayes.

"Hi, Mr. Hayes," he said, "I already did what you told me to do earlier. My work is all done. That's why I was down here. I already done everything you said..." he started, trying to explain why he wasn't working like the rest of the crew.

"Alright," Hayes didn't protest, "the crew's got it under control. I just don't like you being down here. Why don't you come up on deck with me?"

Jimmy nodded, "okay."

He followed Mr. Hayes up on deck and near the helm of the ship, "Mr. Hayes?" he asked.

"Yeah?" the man responded.

"Why is Englehorn agreeing to let actors an' stuff get a free ride on _The Venture_?" he asked, still curious about the captains decision.

"Well, it ain't like that, Jimmy," Hayes told him, "it's not a free ride. They are paying for the passage. We're a little short on money these days, and Englehorn saw this as a good opportunity to get a little ahead financially."

"Oh," Jimmy answered simply, "but don't we get money by selling animals?"

"Well, yes," Hayes began, "but things aren't how they used to be. The economy isn't so good right now. It's not just us though, Jimmy. A lot of people are having money problems. Some zoos and circuses can't really afford to buy from us right now, because they aren't getting as many customers as usual to pay them, you see? We'll be okay though."

Jimmy nodded, "I guess it won't be so bad though. Since they are all gonna be rich actors, they'll probably want nothin' to do with us, right?" he laughed, "we probably won't even know they're here."

Hayes laughed, "Probably," he agreed.

xxxxxx

Once it got dark, Jimmy watched the actors and film crew board the ship. Jimmy didn't know much about the film industry. He had figured maybe they would need a few actors, and one guy with a camera, but the group boarding the ship now was more than just a few. There was a somewhat plump man with a smug look about him, a tall man with a distinguished nose, a few men with glasses who looked to be the scholarly type, another man who looked like a complete jerk (likely the lead male role of the film, Jimmy thought) and a last passenger who took in Jimmy's interest much more than any of the others. She was the only woman among the group, and had light coloured slightly curled hair, partially hidden under a hat. Jimmy couldn't see her very well, but she appeared to be beautiful from a distance, and reminded him of how his mother looked when he was quite young. Of course, Jimmy hadn't seen his mother for so long he wasn't really sure what she looked like, to be honest.

While everyone was getting everything in order, Jimmy stayed out of the way, making himself invisible. He was good at hiding and sneaking off. Likely, none of the new passengers even knew he was on board.

As the ship started moving, Jimmy witnessed several interesting events. He saw the man with the distinguished nose running frantically out of the halls where the cabins were located, and then saw him curse to himself. It seemed he hadn't meant to be on the ship after it took off. Jimmy laughed to himself. He also saw police cars on shore, and some cops seeming to want the exact opposite of what the large-nosed man wanted, to have been on the ship with it left port. Someone on the film crew seemed to be evading the police. Jimmy didn't have a problem with that, however. He himself could have been arrested at any time for all of the things he stole. He didn't really care for the police, and wasn't at all upset that a fugitive had eluded them.

For now, Jimmy felt he should keep himself unknown to the new passengers. Once they had been sailing for a while, he hoped he would be able to meet the blond woman he had seen earlier. She was the only one of the film crew he cared to meet, as all the men seemed like the kind of people who would look down on him due to their own wealth and false sense of superiority.

After a while Jimmy walked around on deck and sat down on a bench, looking out at the dark night sky and the waves of the ocean. He was very glad to be here on _The Venture_. He hadn't cared for the news about transporting the film crew, but after he had seen there was a woman among the crew, he was a bit more excited. Therefore, he was quite surprised when the woman walked right up to him and sat down on the other end of the bench.

At first, Jimmy didn't know what to say. He wasn't often very good at speaking to people he didn't know. He glanced over at her. She was staring off at the ocean just as he had been. He looked away, and then down at his shoes, at a loss for words. When he turned to face her again, he found that she had looked over at him at the same time.

"Hello," she greeted him.

"Uh... hi," he responded, looking at her face which seemed so kind. Though he didn't remember his mother's face completely, he wanted to think she looked just like this woman. Of course, he knew she definitely wasn't his mother, as she was too young, but she did seem kind, like his mother was.

"My name's Ann," she introduced herself, "what's yours?"

"Jimmy," he answered.

They were silent for a moment until Ann sighed. Jimmy looked at her questioningly. She looked sad. Jimmy cocked his head to the side. Was she sad?

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Oh... nothing," she said, shaking her head, "nothing you need to worry about anyway," she smiled, "my problems are my own, not yours. You needn't worry."

"Oh. Okay," Jimmy agreed. He could understand that sort of thing. He himself wasn't often very vocal about what was bothering him. If she wanted to keep her troubles to herself, that was fine with him, "So... are you an actor or something?" he asked, trying to make conversation.

"Yes," she answered, "I haven't ever acted in film before... but Mr. Denham approached me with the opportunity... I needed some sort of job... so I said yes."

"Well, I think you made a good choice. Don't actors get paid a lot?" Jimmy asked.

"Maybe in film they do," Ann told him, "not so much in Vaudeville."

Jimmy nodded. He didn't know what she was talking about, but didn't want her to think he was stupid, so didn't ask what she meant by _Vaudeville_, "Well, I think you'll like it on _The Venture_," he told her.

"Well... I suppose I like it alright," she told him, "it's better than nothing, right?"

"Very much better than nothin'," Jimmy agreed.

"Are you a member of the crew?" she asked, now looking confused.

"Yeah," Jimmy told her, quite proud of himself. He knew he still wasn't as strong as the rest of the crew on the ship, but really Choy wasn't strong either, and they let him stay. Jimmy felt grown up working on the ship with all of the other men. They treated him as an equal with the occasional joke about his age. But he pretty much felt as though he belonged there.

"How old are you?" Ann asked him.

Jimmy thought about lying to her. He wondered if he could pass for an adult. He didn't want her to think he was just a dumb kid, but he also didn't want to lie unconvincingly and make her angry with him for lying, "fifteen," he told the truth.

She nodded in understanding.

Jimmy supposed she thought he looked to be too young to work as a crewman of a ship, but it wasn't that uncommon for teenagers to have such jobs, was it?

"Jimmy!" he heard Mr. Hayes shout from behind him.

Jimmy turned around and looked at the first mate.

"Lumpy wants your help in the kitchen," he called out.

Jimmy sighed, "Okay. Just a second," he turned back to Ann, "I guess I gotta go."

"Well, I'll see you later then," she smiled.

Jimmy smiled back, "see ya."

He went to the kitchen where their chef, Lumpy was in charge of creating semi-eatable meals. Lumpy didn't usually ask for his help, but seeing as there were a lot more people on board than usual, Jimmy understood why the cook might need some extra assistance... not that any of the film crew would likely even attempt to eat the concoctions Lumpy called food.

"'Ey, Jim," Lumpy greeted him, "I gotta ask ya just a little favour," he began, "there's not a whole lotta work to be done 'round here. I just need you to take a couple plates of this to a couple of our new guests," he winked, "like they'll even eat it anyway..."

Jimmy grinned and grabbed one of the plates. He looked down at it and wrinkled his nose, "what is this?" he asked.

"I'll give ya three guesses," Lumpy offered.

"Uh... walnut something..." Jimmy muttered to himself, "I really don't know. Have we had it before?"

"Yep," Lumpy told him, "you didn't much like it though. Ya threw up just smelling it last time..."

"Oh! Lambs brains, right?" Jimmy recalled.

Lumpy smiled and nodded, "Yep. And walnut sauce."

"Well, I'll be skipping this meal," Jimmy smirked.

"Thought you would," Lumpy remarked, handing Jimmy an apple, "don't tell the other guys I'm givin' you real food or else they'll all expect it."

Jimmy stuffed the apple into his pocket and nodded, "Okay, I'll be right back," he said, exiting the room.

Jimmy delivered plates of the semi-edible substance to their new guests, meeting each of them. He liked some of them, and disliked others.

The writer, for example, Mr. Driscol seemed friendly. He also didn't seem to think much of Lumpy's cooking, as he nearly vomited at the sight of it. Jimmy almost managed to steal a pen from him, but Hayes caught him and he was forced to abandon it. He decided he would get it back later. He couldn't just leave the pen now that it was on his mind.

Next he delivered a plate to the star actor, Mr. Bruce Baxter. This guy honestly seemed like sort of a stuck up jerk. He refused to even take the plate, instructing Jimmy to take it back where it came from. Mr. Denham also was not interested in the food. He was drinking some sort of alcohol, which Jimmy did not much like, as alcohol had only brought pain and sorrow into his life in the past.

A few of the film crew at least pretended to eat the meal. They didn't touch it while Jimmy was in the room, but must have rather thrown it out at some point between Jimmy giving it to them and him returning to take their plates back to Lumpy. He knew they hadn't eaten it, because their plates were completely scraped clean when he returned. If they had tried it, they couldn't have possibly stomached _all _of it. He appreciated the fact that they weren't rude about it, but knew they hadn't really eaten it. Perhaps they had thought Jimmy had cooked it and didn't want to hurt his feelings. Really Jimmy didn't care. What they didn't know was that he wouldn't eat it either. He was actually quite amused by their various reactions to Lumpy's "cooking."

When Jimmy was finished helping Lumpy, he made his way to his cabin. He didn't much like the writer staying below deck in the cages and wondered why he was even doing so. Choy told him they had run out of rooms and the writer had no where else to stay. Jimmy almost wanted to offer up his own room to him, just so he could spend time in the cages without anyone else questioning his motives. He knew Hayes wouldn't stand for it, however, so he let it go. This was only temporary. He would have his sanctuary back when the actors and film crew were gone.

_xxxxxx_

For the next days Jimmy spent a lot of time reading and trying his best to stay out of sight to most of the film crew. He didn't like many of them based on the first impressions they made of themselves, so tried his best to simply not come into contact with them.

He did manage to befriend a few of the new passengers, however. Ann, who talked with him occasionally and even danced with him one day seemed to be a very kind lady. He enjoyed having her around, because she was sweet and was careful about what she said, unlike his usual company of the crew members of the ship. He also liked that she seemed to not have the superiority complex some actors seemed to have. She had a certain sadness about her, as though maybe she had lived a painful life. Yet she remained cheerful, never mentioning anything about her past. Jimmy felt he and she had a sort of bond.

Jimmy also had occasional conversations with the writer, since he _was_ in Jimmy's cages after all... His main motivation for speaking to him again was so that he could steal the pen he still hadn't forgotten about. So he walked below deck where the author was sitting, typing away.

"Hi," he made his presence known.

"Oh, hey," Mr. Driscoll greeted him, "if you have more of that sheep brains... please don't even bring it over here..." he laughed.

"Oh, if I had lambs brains in the same room as you, you'd be able to smell it. I didn't bring any," Jimmy told him, "I just came down to check up on you. Mr. Hayes doesn't like me to be down here, so I thought he might want me to make sure you're doing okay," he lied. He knew the writer was doing okay. Jimmy stayed down here all the time and he was always fine.

"I'm alright," Jack told him, "I'm a little sea sick, but that cannot be helped."

"Really?" Jimmy wondered. He never got sea sick. But then again he had been living on the ship for quite some time, and was used to it. He didn't remember getting sea sick when he first arrived either though, "well, I can get you some water or something," he offered.

"No, thanks," Jack told him. He looked up from whatever he had been typing when Jimmy walked over and sat down in the chair next to his makeshift desk.

"So what kind of film are you making?" Jimmy asked.

Jack smiled. He loved talking about his work, "Well, it's a love story. Ann is the female role and Bruce is the male role. Of course, I've written his character a lot different than he'll end up being in the film. He doesn't like reading the script, it seems. He likes doing his own thing. Ann is perfect though. Have you seen her act? I was skeptical at first... I figured Carl had just found some girl off the street at the last minute, and maybe he did, but she's a damn good actress."

"Oh, yes. I watched some of the filming today," Jimmy told him, slipping the writer's pen off his desk and into his own pocket, "she's really nice too. Bruce seems kinda like a jerk."

Jack laughed, "well, I wouldn't tell him that if I were you. He can be hard to work with."

"Driscoll!" Jimmy and Jack looked over to where Mr. Denham had just walked in, "you got the next scene written up? I wanna try and stay ahead of the game instead of having to wait for you to type something. We only have two more scenes to film before we need the next part of the script. Come on... don't get behind."

"I'm working on it, Carl," Jack told him.

"I guess I'll go then," Jimmy offered, "so you can get that done."

"Alright. I'll see you later, Jimmy," Jack told him.

Jimmy walked past Carl on his way back up stairs. Carl just looked at him as though he was annoyed with him for distracting Jack. Jimmy frowned back at him and went on his way. Now he had Jack's pen, and he knew exactly what he was going to do with it.

**_xxxxxx_**

**_Well, I hope I didn't disappoint any of the few who are reading this... I think this chapter was a bit more happy than some of the previous ones... Please, please leave me a review... I'd really like to know if you guys like this chapter, since it is so different from the previous ones... and again, I'm sorry for taking so long to update..._**


	7. Chapter 7

**_Okay... I decided to keep writing this story through Skull Island, or at least through part of it... I may write until after Hayes's death, or may use that as a poetic ending... It just depends on if I'm too depressed to keep writing past that or not. (Hayes dying makes me cry.) He won't die in this story for a long time though, so don't get too sad yet..._**

**_Also, it's been over a year since I updated this... But my goodness... My inspiration for writing comes at very bizarre times... Is anyone even going to read this? We'll see...  
_**

**_xxxxxx_**

Chapter 7

Because he had delivered meals to the guests and crew of the ship on several occasions now, Jimmy knew exactly which cabin belonged to each of the film crew. This would ordinarily be rather useless information, since he didn't really particularly care for any of the crew except Jack and Ann, and Jack didn't even have a cabin. However, though he didn't care to visit the members of the film crew, he did have other purposes for visiting some of their rooms.

He made his way to the cabin of Mr. Bruce Baxter, laughing silently to himself while he thought about what he was about to do.

The first time he had set foot in Mr. Baxter's room, Jimmy was appalled at how vain the man was. His walls were adorned with posters depicting himself in various films. Jimmy knew some people were slightly vain; they liked to look in the mirror and make sure they looked nice before going out where others could see them, but to decorate one's room with images of oneself seemed a bit extreme even for the most narcissistic of people.

With his newly acquired pen in hand, Jimmy entered the cabin of the film star, knowing he would have a few minutes to complete his task while the man was in the washroom.

Jimmy looked at the posters for a moment before vandalizing them. Baxter never actually looked so courageous in real life. The posters were a gross misrepresentation of the man's real personality. Jimmy shook his head and walked over to the first poster, drawing a mustache and darkening the eyebrows on the actor's face. On the next he tried to make Baxter look like Frankenstein. When Jimmy had finished, he stepped back and admired his work, laughing to himself. He would have liked to stay and laugh longer, but he knew Baxter could be returning to his room at any moment, and Jimmy did not want to be there when he did.

He slipped out of the door and made his way down the hall. He saw Baxter approaching from the other direction and it took all of his self control to keep himself from bursting out in laughter at the sight of the man. He smiled and held in his laughter as best as he could as he turned sideways in the narrow hall so that he and the actor could pass each other.

As soon as he turned the corner, Jimmy ran as quickly as he could to the stairs which led down below deck. He didn't go downstairs just yet, however. Instead he hid himself as best as he could while still keeping his eye on the exit of the hallway. He wondered if the actor would notice his alterations of the posters immediately. He somehow doubted the man could go long without looking at himself. Therefore, Jimmy predicted that Baxter would soon be coming out of the hall in order to find him and give him some lecture or another.

As he had thought, Baxter emerged from the hall within a few short moments, scanning the deck, likely in an attempt to find the culprit of the vandalism.

Jimmy gasped as Baxter appeared to look right at him. He immediately turned and ran down the stairs. He didn't know if the actor had actually seen him or not, as he had been partially hidden, but he wasn't taking any chances. He knew the layout of the cages and crates below deck and could surely hide from the man if need be.

As he ran below Jimmy gasped again, feeling himself collide with someone. The impact knocked him backwards and onto the floor and caused him to drop the pen he still had gripped in his hand. He first looked at the pen scuttling across the floor and then looked up to see Jack, who was reaching down, offering to help Jimmy up.

"Sorry about that," Jack apologized, even though it had been Jimmy's fault, "you okay?"

Jimmy gripped his hand and allowed the man to pull him up off the floor, "um... Sorry I took your pen," Jimmy said, reaching down and picking it up off the floor where it had landed. He handed the pen to Jack and then quickly added, "don't tell him that I'm down here... please..." Jimmy ran off to hide, leaving Jack completely confused.

Jack turned toward him to inquire further on the subject but didn't get a chance to before he turned back around at the sound of more footfalls.

Jimmy darted behind a stack of empty crates and peered through a crack between them, watching and listening, hoping that Jack wouldn't give him away. He liked the writer so far, but didn't know him well enough to be sure that he wouldn't think Jimmy deserved punishment for his prank. Jimmy knew better than to put his full trust in someone he had only just met.

When Jimmy saw Bruce he could tell the man was angry. Apparently he didn't think the mustache and Frankenstein drawings were as funny as Jimmy did.

"Have you seen that kid who's always running around?" Baxter asked of Jack, "the one who's always with the first mate..."

Jack shook his head, "no, I haven't seen him; why?" he lied but also seemed curious as to what Jimmy had done to upset the actor.

Bruce exhaled, frustration clear in his expression and tone, "The little vandal drew all over my portraits. I know it was him, because he was walking away from my room while I walked toward it... He wouldn't even look at me, like he was tryin' to hide somethin... That, and who else would dare, ya know? What kind of a captain would let a kid run around his ship messing everything up like that? Very unprofessional if ya ask me."

Jimmy could hear Jack let out a slight laugh, "well, I haven't seen him."

"It's not funny," Bruce complained, "if I can't find him, I'll let the first mate know what he did; surely he'll straighten him out. Maybe all the crew doesn't care if the kid turns out to be a criminal, but that guy seems like he wouldn't care for it. The kid probably _already is_ a criminal," he added, "if he'll vandalize someone's personal property, who knows what else he'd do."

"I'm sure it was just meant to be a joke, Bruce," Jack assured him, "he's not a bad kid. If I see him, I'll talk to him about it, okay? He probably didn't know you'd really be offended by it." He clapped Bruce on the shoulder as he continued, "Now, I'm going to go give this script to Carl. I wouldn't advise you to stay down here for long. It's easy to get sick being down here, for some reason."

Jack turned and left, leaving Bruce standing alone, still fuming. Jack's words hadn't eased his anger at all.

Jimmy hoped Baxter would get over his anger quickly. He didn't know how long he could avoid the man, especially since he still wasn't leaving. Did he know that Jimmy was down here? Had he just been waiting for Jack to leave so he could look for him?

He decided he should try to sneak out without Baxter ever knowing he had been there. If he went all the way around all of the cages, he could slip out and up the stairs without Baxter even seeing. He turned quietly around but before he could start walking, the ship rode a wave larger than usual, causing him to fall backwards. It wasn't too large of a wave, but it _did_ cause him to bump against the crates behind which he had been hiding. The crates fell down with a loud crash.

Jimmy held his breath and pressed himself against the wall and behind a cage. There was an old blanket draped partially over the cage, enough to hide him half way from Baxter's possible line of vision from the other side of the cage. Jimmy hoped Baxter wouldn't see him there.

Unfortunately, the actor had obviously heard the crates fall and didn't think the reason was merely the wave the ship had ridden. He made his way around the bend and stood right in the way of Jimmy's only means of escape. Jimmy didn't say anything at all as he stared at Baxter, who was staring angrily back at him. He contemplated how he might get around the man so he could run and maybe get up into the crow's nest where the actor would undoubtedly not attempt to follow.

He decided to push the actor to the side and run for it, but when he attempted his plan, he was unsuccessful. Instead of Baxter simply moving out of his way, he pushed back, grabbing onto the collar of Jimmy's shirt and pushing him backwards against the wall, not entirely in a rough manner, but likely just to get him to stay put.

Jimmy's eyes were wide as he silently stared at Baxter. He knew sometimes adults could be a bit rough just to get their point across but without actually intending any physical harm. Sometimes Hayes would cause a bit of pain when trying to get Jimmy to listen to him, like when he squeezed Jimmy's arm hard enough to force him to give back Jack's pen. He knew Hayes wouldn't ever hurt him seriously, but he didn't know Baxter well enough to be sure he wouldn't.

"Now you listen to me, kid," Bruce began, staring angrily into Jimmy's eyes. Jimmy frowned and grasped his hands partially around Baxter's arms so that he could feel he was at least partially in control of the situation. While Baxter had a tight hold on his shirt, Jimmy also had a slightly less tight hold on the man's forearms.

"I don't know who raised you to think vandalizing other people's things is funny," he began, "you can be sure that if we weren't on this smelly boat I'd have you arrested."

Jimmy frowned even further. _The Venture_ wasn't smelly... and it wasn't a boat, "it's a ship," he countered.

"What?" Baxter clearly didn't know what Jimmy was talking about.

"It's not a boat. It's a ship," Jimmy told him.

Baxter shook his head, "that's besides the point," he continued, "I don't appreciate you breaking into my room and vandalizing my property."

"I'm sorry," Jimmy muttered. He didn't know why Baxter cared so much. It was just some paper, and the man was rich. The posters could certainly be replaced easily. Plus, if he wanted to see himself, he could always just look in a mirror... Why would he need to have posters depicting himself all over his walls? Jimmy continued, "it was just a joke."

"Vandalism isn't a joke," Baxter repeated himself.

Jimmy sighed, "what do you want me to do? I said I'm sorry... I didn't know you would care so much." Jimmy could hear the defiance in his own voice. Baxter had to know the apology wasn't sincere, but there wasn't really much he could do about it.

Baxter sighed as well, realizing there was really nothing more to be done. Jimmy had apologized, and that was really all he could do, "you're lucky I have more of those posters back in New York," he released his hold on Jimmy, "don't let me catch you near my room again," he added before Jimmy could leave.

Jimmy pushed his way passed the actor, "whatever," he muttered. Jimmy knew he wouldn't stay away from Baxter's room entirely. He had work to do on the ship, and he used any hallway which was convenient to get to where he needed to be. He might try to avoid the actor for his own reasons, but Baxter was a guest on _The Venture_, and Jimmy wouldn't let him dictate what was off limits to him. Jimmy would go wherever he pleased.

xxxxxx

Jimmy truly did try to avoid Baxter for the rest of the trip. Not out of respect for the man's suggestion that he stay away from his room, but rather simply because Jimmy didn't much care for the narcissistic man.

For the remaining portion of the voyage, Jimmy spent a lot of time making his way through the pages of _The Heart of Darkness, _either while in the crow's nest or while hiding below deck. Before long he overheard Jack and Carl talking while he as hiding out in one of the cages. Apparently Carl had made plans to take the ship to a different location than the crew previously thought. Jimmy felt it was his responsibility to inform Mr. Hayes of this.

Eventually, it was all sorted out so that all of the ship's crew, including Englehorn were aware of Carl's intentions. Unfortunately, the news was heard too late, and the ship made an unavoidable and violent crash into what appeared to be what Carl had referred to as Skull Island.

In all his days on _The Venture_, Jimmy had never experienced a more wild ride than the ship running aground had created for him. He had been thrown about quite painfully, as he held onto pieces of the crow's nest for dear life.

Once the ship impacted with the rocks and the waves settled down, Jimmy sank to the small floor of the crow's nest. He was very relieved that the ordeal was over, and felt very lucky to be alive. He hoped no one had fallen off the ship or fallen within the ship and gotten severely injured. They'd likely all have bruises, since they had been thrown around quite a bit... He had at least. But he hoped no one sustained any injuries any worse than his own.

With still trembling hands, Jimmy made his way down the ropes and back on deck. He was happy to hear no one had been hurt too badly. The ship had been damaged pretty severely though. Water was pouring in below deck.

Englehorn, Hayes, and the rest of the crew focused on trying to repair the ship while Carl, the film crew and actors went ashore to film. On some level, Jimmy wanted to go ashore as well, but he knew Hayes wouldn't allow it, and also knew he had a responsibility to help mend the ship.

The island looked very eerie, like something sinister might live there. The rocks around the island weren't just cliffs or mountains. They looked like walls, like someone had actually took the effort to build them that way. Jimmy wondered if they were ancient buildings of some extinct tribe. Maybe people still lived there... Jimmy shivered.

"I should go after them," he heard Englehorn say, "I don't like the look of this place at all."

"It's their own fault fer bein' stupid enough ta go ashore," Lumpy commented as he passed by with some tools, "they'll come back. Prolly get scared before they even make it to the land. Their prolly on their way back already. Soft folks like them. Aint as tough as they like ta think they are."

Lumpy didn't wait for anyone to agree or disagree with him. He said what he had to say, and he wasn't looking for a discussion or debate. He made his way back down below deck.

Jimmy looked over at Englehorn, "if you go after them, can I go with you?"

"No," Hayes answered before Englehorn could.

Jimmy turned and scowled at him. He hadn't even known the man had been standing behind him, "why not? There ain't nothing there. It's just some rocks. Why don't I get to see it? Why do I always gotta be left out of everything?"

"We don't know if it's safe, Jimmy," Hayes had a stern look in his eyes. Mr. Hayes had a way about him where he could say a lot without actually saying anything. Jimmy knew not to argue with him (even though sometimes he did anyway.)

So he sulked down below deck and helped the others who weren't deemed worthy enough to go on Englehorn's rescue mission.

He hoped nothing had gone wrong with the film crew. He figured they would probably be fine, but the fact that everyone was acting like the island may be dangerous, along with the fact that it looked like the scariest place on earth made him a little uneasy. If something happened to Ann or Mr. Driscoll, Jimmy was going to be heartbroken. He was really starting to like them...

xxxxxx

_**I'm never sure how to spell Englehorn (Engelhorn) or Driscoll (Driscol) ? So I just guess every time...**_

_**Also, sorry if the plot seems a bit rushed... I'm trying to get them onto the island so there will be more interesting stuff going on... **_


End file.
